US trade war: China

The value of bilateral trade between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, reached over 500 billion dollars in 2016. Today, Chinese products are found in more American homes more than ever before and the two economies are largely intertwined.

Over the past few decades, many American companies saw China as the world's biggest business opportunity. Cheap Chinese labor which resulted in lower manufacturing costs translated into more profits for US firms. However, Donald Trump, who took charge of the White House on January the 20th, campaigned on protectionist policies while running for president. He pledged to create thousands of jobs by making it difficult for American firms to relocate to China. Among other issues, Trump blamed the growing unemployment in the US particularly on China. This is while statistics available from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis show that the top American export categories to China in 2015 resulted in substantial profits for the US.

With bilateral trade volumes have increased between the US and China, concerns have been growing in the US over alleged intellectual property theft by Beijing. US officials have been accusing China of stealing American technology and in some cases highly sensitive ones which are used in the military.

Americans allege that China is stealing their companies’ secrets under a law which stipulates that all firms operating in the country must disclose critical intellectual property to the government and all data must be stored locally. In an op-ed article in the Financial Times, US commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross accused Beijing of being a primary culprit for the theft, piracy and espionage of US intellectual property.

Ross claimed China’s government and companies were deliberately targeting US companies pioneering technologies that China lacked as part of a plan known as “Made in China 2025”.

US President Donald Trump has expressed frustration in recent months over what he sees as China's unfair trade policies. He has now called for a probe into the issue and signed an executive memorandum giving his trade representative the power to explore ways to challenge China’s alleged theft of intellectual property.